EBay for Dummies (14 page)
Authors: Marsha Collier
Tags: #Electronic Commerce, #Computers, #General, #E-Commerce, #Internet auctions, #Auctions - Computer network resources, #Internet, #Business & Economics, #EBay (Firm)
Be careful when you retract a bid. All bids on eBay are binding, but under what eBay calls “exceptional circumstances,” you may retract bids — very sparingly. Here are the circumstances in which it’s okay to retract a bid:
If you’ve mistakenly put in the wrong bid amount — say, $100 instead of $10
If the seller adds to his or her description after you’ve placed your bid, and the change considerably affects the item
If you can’t contact the seller (your e-mail continuously bounces back and the phone number doesn’t work)
You can’t retract a bid just because you found the item elsewhere cheaper or you changed your mind or you decided that you really can’t afford the item. If that’s the case, e-mail the seller and ask
them
to please remove your bid. See Chapter 6 for more information on retracting bids.
Reading your feedback
Your eBay reputation is at the mercy of the one-liners that buyers and sellers leave for you in the form of feedback comments. Each feedback box contains these reputation-building (or reputation-trashing) ingredients:
The user ID of the person who sent the feedback. The number in parentheses next to the person’s name is his or her own feedback rating.
The date and time the feedback was posted.
The item number of the transaction that the feedback refers to. If the item has closed in the past 30 days, you can click the transaction number to see what the buyer purchased.
Seller or Buyer — indicating whether you were the seller or the buyer in the transaction.
Feedback bullets in different colors: praise (in green with a plus mark), negative (in red with a minus mark), or neutral (in grey with a white dot).
The feedback the person left about you.
You have the last word — responding to feedback
After reading feedback you’ve received from others, you may feel compelled to respond. If the feedback is negative, you may want to defend yourself. If it’s positive, you may want to say thank you.
To respond to feedback, follow these steps:
1. Click the Feedback link in the drop-down menu under the Account tab on your My eBay page, and then click the Go to Feedback Forum link at the top of the page.
You’re transported to the Feedback Forum, where you can reply to feedback comments left for you.
2. Find the feedback you want to respond to and click the Reply link.
3. Type your response.
If you want to follow up to a feedback you’ve already left for someone, follow the preceding steps, but in Step 2, click the Follow Up to Feedback Left link on the Feedback Forum page.
Do not confuse
replying
to feedback with
leaving
feedback. Replying does not change the other user’s feedback rating; it merely adds a line below the feedback with your response.
Leaving feedback with finesse
Writing feedback well takes some practice. It isn’t a matter of saying things; it’s a matter of saying
only the appropriate things.
Think carefully about what you want to say because once you submit feedback, it stays with the person for the duration of his or her eBay career. I think you should always leave feedback, especially at the end of a transaction, although doing so isn’t mandatory. Think of leaving feedback as voting in an election: If you don’t leave feedback, you can’t complain about lousy service.
eBay says to make feedback “factual and emotionless.” You won’t go wrong if you comment on the details (either good or bad) of the transaction. If you have any questions about what eBay says about feedback, click the Feedback link on your My eBay page and then click the Go to Feedback Forum link.
In the Feedback Forum, you can perform six feedback-related tasks:
See feedback about an eBay user.
Leave feedback for many auctions at once.
Here, you see all pending feedback for all transactions within the past 90 days. You are presented with a page of all your transactions for which you haven’t left feedback. Fill them in, one at a time, and with one click you can leave as many as 25 feedback comments at once.
Review and respond to existing feedback about you.
Review the feedback you have left for others.
Here, you may also leave follow-up feedback after the initial feedback, should situations change.
Make your feedback profile public or private.
Remember, if you make your feedback profile private, you may hinder your future business on eBay. See the sidebar “Extra, extra, read all about it,” elsewhere in this chapter.
Check the Feedback FAQ to review any changes in the feedback system.
In the real world (at least in the modern American version of it), anybody can sue anybody else for slander or libel; this fact holds true on the Internet, too. It’s a good idea to be careful not to make any comments that could be libelous or slanderous. eBay is not responsible for your actions, so if you’re sued because of negative feedback (or anything else you’ve written), you’re on your own. The best way to keep yourself safe is to stick to the facts and to not get personal.
Mincing words: The at-a-glance guide to keeping feedback short
eBay likes to keep things simple. If you want to compliment, complain, or take the middle road, you have to do it in 80 characters or less. That means your comment needs to be short and sweet (or short and sour if it’s negative, or sweet and sour if you’re mixing drinks or ordering Chinese food). If you have a lot to say but you’re stumped about how to say it, here are a few examples for any occasion. String them together or mix and match!
Positive feedback:
Very professional
Quick e-mail response
Fast service
A+++
Good communication
Exactly as described
Highly recommended
Smooth transaction
Would deal with again
An asset to eBay
I’ll be back!
Negative feedback:
Never responded
Never sent item
Desperately slow shipping
Beware track record
Not as described
Neutral feedback:
Slow to ship but item as described
Item not as described but seller made good
Poor communication but item came OK
If you’re angry, take a breather
before
you type your complaints and click the Leave Comment button. If you’re convinced that negative feedback is necessary, try a cooling-off period before you send a comment. Wait an hour or a day and then see whether you feel the same. Nasty feedback based on emotion can make you look vindictive (even if what you’re saying is true).
Safety tips for giving feedback
And speaking of safety features you should know about feedback, you may want to study up on these:
Remember that feedback, whether good or bad, is
sticky.
eBay won’t remove your feedback comment if you change your mind later. Be sure of your facts and carefully consider what you want to say.
Before you leave feedback, see what other people had to say about that person. Is your thinking in line with the comments others have left?
Your feedback comment can be left as long as the transaction remains on the eBay server. This is usually within 90 days of the end of the listing. After 90 days have passed, you must have the transaction number to leave feedback.
Your comment can be a maximum of only 80 letters long, which is really short when you have a lot to say. Before you start typing, organize your thoughts and use common abbreviations to save precious space.
Before posting negative feedback, try to resolve the problem by e-mail or telephone. You may discover that your reaction to the transaction is based on a misunderstanding that can be easily resolved.
eBay users generally want to make each other happy, so use negative feedback
only as a last resort.
See Chapters 8 and 10 for more details on how to avoid negative feedback.
If you do leave a negative comment that you later regret, you can’t remove it. You can go back to follow up and leave an explanation or a more positive comment (but it won’t change the initial feedback or rating), so think twice before you blast.